Stuz - The Society for Sustainable Living

The organization was established on October 6, 1992. It has 80 members in two regional branches (White Carpathians and Sub-Tatra).

The main aims of the organization are:

• to understand more deeply the relations between Man and Nature, between human society and its environment,
• to search for the path leading to sustainable ways of life,
• to get nearer to the ideals of humanism and of harmonic relations between Man and Nature, bearing in mind the priority of preserving life in its whole diversity and of protecting nature as a whole, and bearing in mind the responsibility towards both present and future generations,
• to search for and promote the human values and ways of life that should enable the sustainable qualitative development of human abilities, which should be an alternative to the quantitative growth based on the constant increase in the consumption of energy and material estates resulting from collective illusions or from selfishness and hedonism,
• to protect and promote the concept of sustainable ways of living at local, regional, national, and global levels,
• to inform the public of the state of the environment, its reasons and consequences, and to propose solutions of the mutually related ecological, economic, social and political problems,
• to initiate an international network of organizations that should promote sustainable ways of living.

The main activities are divided to several areas:

• effective lobbying of the government, parliament, local governments, business, industry, and other structures to influence their strategies, politics, and decision-making process in the direction of sustainable development (lobbying for support of new environmental laws on nature protection, environmental impact assessment, anti ozone depletion),
• organization of conferences, meetings, workshops, e.g. International Conference on Sustainable Living in Europe, Kostelec n/C, 1993; international seminar: Revitalization of the Rural Landscape, Nova Bosaca, 1993; workshop: Sustainable Development of the Sub-Tatra region and Problems of Regional Centers for Environmental and Sustainable Living, Kvacany, 1993; workshop: Social, Economic, and Environmental Development of the Slovak Republic from the Point of View of the Aspects of Sustainability in the Period 1989 - 1993, etc.,
• initiation of hearings, round-tables, forums, etc., of representatives of NGOs, independent experts, and the public, presenting to the public, in order to improve public awareness and participation, international documents (UNCED '92, Lucerne '93 etc.) through mass-media,
• cooperation in practical revitalization of rural settlements and landscape during the weekends (Zajezova, Podsip, Kvacianska Dolina, Polana, Terchova, Liptovsky Peter, etc.),
• publishing of the most important results of activists (stand-points, results of projects, etc.) in the form of simple proceedings (e.g. stand-points on the water law proposal, on changing the air protection law, on the water management policy, on the Winter Olympic Games 2002 in Slovakia, on the problems of the Aluminum plant in Ziar, and many others).
• organization of meetings, ad hoc workshops, monthly press-conferences.

Plans for the future:

• regular press-conferences and panel discussions on specific themes,
• sustainable living concepts on the local, regional, and international levels: project "Restoration of Rural Communities and Landscapes of the White Carpathians", publishing activities, exhibitions, seminars, etc.

STUZ is looking for cooperation with other NGOs on the issues of sustainable living and on the Sofia '95 process.

STUZ
Starotursky chodnik 1
811 01 Bratislava
SLOVAKIA
tel.: +42-7-4980020
fax: +42-7-313968